Mystical Experience what is it.

When the topic of mystical experience was mentioned in class today I wanted to know more. I went on the internet and did a simple search for information and found a list of many cites. I chose one and this is what information I found on the cite. (www.bodysoulandspirit.net This is the cite.)

Mysticism is usually defined in dictionaries and encyclopedias as a spiritual discipline used to make contact with the divine.

It also gives the following as a guide to help you know if you are having or have had a mystical experience.

General Characteristics of Mystical Experience

Mystical experiences are marked by all or some of the following feelings/insights.
A sense of unity or totality
A sense of timelessness
A sense of having encountered ultimate reality
A sense of sacredness
A sense that one can not adequately describe the richness of this experience

Most experiences can last as short as a few seconds or up to a few days.

I can see that this information would help some one but it did not help me to completely understand how you would tell if you had a mystical experience.

I think though that the quote below from Albert Einstein says it best. That in truth a mystical experience is an event that in a since startles the human mind, and acknowledges the existence of other forces may they be God or spirits or mother earth.
"The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religion." - Albert Einstein

This cite also has some stories of other peoples mystical experiences.